There is a great deal of hype and myth surrounding both the phenomenon of serial murder and the process of criminal profiling. Much of the serial murder fiction is a result of the portrayal of these killers in the popular media, and the way in which they are represented by the news media. Their crimes occupy a high profile category, and occur at the end of the spectrum of normality (an arbitrary distinction between us and people not like us). Therefore, they usually attract a great deal of attention.

Because the average person is unable to fathom the acts of serial killers, explanations for their behaviour fall somewhere between the evil of the perpetrator and some form of mental instability. Neither of these explanations is necessarily helpful in understanding their behaviour, and neither is necessarily correct.

Just as serial murder “pulls a large crowd”, one of the investigative tools often employed to aid in their capture, most broadly known as criminal profiling, has also received a large amount of attention in recent times. The mythology that surrounds this practice is no less prevalent, just different, and there is no doubt that the process is largely misunderstood by the greater population.

It is the purpose of this paper to explore a dozen or so of the most popular myths relating to serial murder and criminal profiling, and to examine where possible what the literature says about them. This paper will set the stage for subsequent works on criminal profiling, including the developmental origins of criminal profiling, the different methods used in the profiling of criminals, and the evaluations of criminal profiling.